Talking to the Stars
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: Early in season 1. Ash, Misty, Staryu, and Starmie on a peaceful night. Ash doesn't understand starfish Pokemon, but maybe with Misty's help, he's starting to.


**Pokemon**

 **Talking to the Stars**

 **By Lucky_Ladybug**

 **Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! It takes place very early in the first season, probably shortly after** _ **The Water Flowers of Cerulean City**_ **. I was going to wait to write it until I posted a multi-part story I've been working on, but then I realized it wasn't going to work. This has to come first or some references in my other story won't make sense.**

It was the flashing, glowing lights that awakened Ash that night. He, Misty, and Brock had been traveling next to a stream most of the day and had decided to camp by it that night, especially since it was delicious for drinking. But no one else was supposed to know about the spot, so when Ash flew awake his first thought was _Team Rocket again?!_ He was all set to call Pikachu forth when he noticed Misty crouching by the water's edge, watching the flashing beams as they went up into the sky. While one was red, the other changed to all the colors of the rainbow. Confused, Ash got out of his sleeping bag and went over to her.

"Hey, Misty, what's going on?" he asked.

"Staryu and Starmie are talking to the stars," Misty replied. She had an oddly peaceful, knowing smile on her face. This was clearly something that had happened many times before, something that she looked forward to and loved.

"They're what?" Ash sat down on the grass beside his recent traveling companion. Now he could see the two starfish Pokemon floating in the water, their gems pointed upward at the sky. The beautiful colors lit up the night, but the stars in the sky remained solitary and silent.

"They like to do this every night," Misty said. "I always like to get up late and let them do it for a while before we go back to bed."

"So . . . why are they doing it?" Ash wondered.

"No one really knows," Misty said. "Some people think they're trying to send messages into outer space. They also think Starmie is an alien, like they think about Clefairy. Of course, that would make Staryu an alien too."

"Weird," Ash frowned.

"Who knows," Misty said playfully. "It could be true."

"Well, you're supposed to be all in tune and stuff with their feelings," Ash said. "Shouldn't you know?"

"They have to keep some secrets," Misty replied.

"I say they keep a whole lot," Ash countered.

Staryu jumped out of the water and walked over to Misty. She smiled and patted one of the upper points. "Did you have a nice time, Staryu?"

"Ha!" Staryu said in what sounded like a pleased grunt.

"How does it even see or hear or anything?" Ash wondered.

"Another of their mysteries," Misty said. "Some people believe that their gems house their spirits and they see and hear through them. But obviously however they do it, they see and hear just as well as any other Pokemon. Staryu sees me just fine, don't you, Staryu?"

Another affirmative grunt.

Starmie hopped out of the water now as well, spinning through the air until reaching Misty. She laughed, patting the larger starfish too. "You just love to show off."

"Ha!" Starmie agreed.

"Something I do know is that starfish Pokemon aren't supposed to have genders," Ash said. "So why do they sound like they do?"

Misty smiled. "Maybe there's no way to scientifically tell if they're boys or girls, but that doesn't mean they don't have gender identities. It's something only devoted starfish Pokemon Trainers believe. I'm in tune enough with my Pokemon that I know what they think of themselves as being. Staryu here is a boy and Starmie is a girl. Oh, and they hatched from eggs laid by the same starfish. They're siblings."

Ash shook his head. "This is getting too weird."

"Why?" Misty stood and hugged Starmie from behind, then Staryu. "You're supposed to be open-minded as a Pokemon Master wannabe, Ash. You have to always be ready to learn new things."

"I just never thought about any of this stuff before," Ash said. "I used to make lists of all the Pokemon I really wanted to catch and find out about, and . . . well, starfish were never high on my list. I wouldn't turn down a chance to catch one, but I can't see myself ever bonding with one."

"You would if you had one," Misty said. "I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I can tell you're the kind of person who really throws his all into whatever Pokemon he has. If you had a Staryu or a Starmie, you'd come to love them a lot."

Ash studied the scene for a moment. Now he really saw in Misty something familiar and relatable. She loved her Pokemon just as much as Ash was coming to love Pikachu and Butterfree and Pigeotto.

"Yeah," he said at last. "I guess I would."

Staryu walked over to Ash and looked curiously up at him. Feeling a bit awkward, yet honestly wanting to try to make friends, Ash slowly held out a hand. "Hey, Staryu. . . . How're you doing?"

Staryu chirped and placed an upper point in Ash's hand.

"He says Hello," Misty said. "And he's feeling great."

"Well, that's good," Ash said.

"You know," Misty continued, looking a bit mischievous now, "in Japan they call Staryu something that translates to 'Starfish Man.'"

"Really?" Ash blinked. "That doesn't sound much like they think he doesn't have a gender."

"You're right, for once," Misty said. "Of course, that goes overboard the other direction. There's female Staryu too."

Starmie chirped in agreement.

"Huh. Actually, this is kinda cool," Ash said. Now his eyes were gleaming.

"I thought you'd be interested if you really got to thinking about it," Misty said. "Just because most people don't see the appeal of starfish Pokemon doesn't make them any less interesting or valuable as Pokemon. I trust both of them with my life."

Ash was definitely warming up to the ideas. "So if they're siblings, did you raise them from the start?"

"Mmhmm." Misty looked pleased. "We got them at the gym as eggs and I was the one who took care of them until they hatched. Naturally I wanted them both with me when I set out on my Pokemon journey."

Ash came over to look at Starmie. "When did Starmie evolve?"

"Oh, let's see." Misty paused. "It was a couple of years ago. I didn't get to start my journey when I was ten because my sisters kept me helping around the gym. One day I got frustrated about it and stormed off, saying I was going to start my journey then anyway. Of course I took my Staryus with me. We ran into some trouble on the road with angry Spearows and both Staryus rushed to protect me. They saved me, but they were both badly hurt." She shuddered.

Staryu and Starmie both patted Misty, as if to say, "That's all over now." Misty smiled and caressed their top points.

"I wonder if those were the same Spearows that attacked Pikachu and me," Ash blinked.

"Maybe.

"My Staryus were really upset," Misty continued, "but not because they were hurt. They'd only barely been able to protect me. I was upset too. The last thing I'd wanted was to get them hurt! I wanted to do whatever I could to help them so that nothing like that would ever happen again. They each had different ideas of how they wanted to do that. Starmie wanted to evolve to her highest form. Staryu wanted to train hard to be the best he could be without evolving. And they've both been achieving their dreams."

"That's awesome," Ash blinked. "You guys really do have a special bond."

"We sure do." Misty sat down again and Staryu and Starmie sat next to her.

Ash sat down too. "So . . . what happens now?"

"We just sit for a while and watch the stars answer back," Misty said.

"But the stars are billions of years old and the light takes ages to reach us," Ash protested. "At least I know that much. They can't be answering back."

"Who knows," Misty said again. "Maybe something out there doesn't take lightyears to reach us."

They stared into the sky for a moment. Ash had to admit, as several stars twinkled in what almost looked like a pattern, he had to wonder if Misty was right.

One thing he _was_ sure of: his Pokemon journey had only been going for a short time, but already it was wonderful. And clearly he had a lot to learn . . . even from Pokemon he had initially dismissed. Someday, he vowed, he wanted to have as close a bond with his Pokemon as Misty did with hers.


End file.
